Johnathon Huerta went into his last season of football at Williams High School without plans of playing in college.

Teammate Corey Sartin had college on his mind, but he wanted to have the chance to play immediately.

Both players found ideal destinations and will continue their playing careers, with Huerta bound for Division III Guilford College and Sartin heading to Division III North Carolina Wesleyan.

“At first, I wanted to go into the military because that’s what my grandfather did and that’s what I wanted to do,” Huerta said. “And then (defensive line) Coach (Barry) Perry talked to me over and over again about, ‘Give it a chance, man, I know you can do it.’ Guilford came down and talked to me, I liked what they had to say.”

Sartin said: “They had nine out of their 11 defensive starters were freshmen, and they’re a new coaching staff coming into a new program that hasn’t been very successful. They have won three conference championships in the past 10 years, but more recently they weren’t so successful.”

At 5-foot-9, 240 pounds, Huerta said he’ll primarily be used as a defensive lineman at Guilford. But he’ll also have duties on offense, the byproduct of some fill-in work for the Bulldogs.

A rash of injuries forced Huerta to become a fullback in the fall. After carrying twice for three yards in his junior season, Huerta had 11 touchdowns this past season.

“I was telling Coach (David) Green since like the beginning of my junior year, ‘Coach Green let me do this, I can run this ball,’ ” Huerta said. “(At Guilford) say it’s third-and-one, I’ll go in there and see if I can get the first down, almost like what I’m doing here at Williams.”

Sartin was sold on N.C. Wesleyan because of the growing program under coach Jeff Filkovski, and because of Williams graduate and receiver Hunter Spriggs.

“I’ve talked to him and the coaches,” Sartin said. “I feel like my decision was based a lot on playing time and I wanted to go somewhere where I wouldn’t be sitting on the bench for four years.”

At 5-8, 145, Sartin said he wanted to pick a desination where his size wouldn’t hold back his opportunity for playing time.

“I don’t want to go to a big school where someone who weighs 145 pounds isn’t going to get much playing time,” Sartin said.